Coolant nozzle

ABSTRACT

A coolant discharge nozzle for grinding machines fixedly secured to a steadyrest assembly movable into and out of operative engagement with a workpiece being ground, so that the nozzle outlet orifice is maintained in the proper spaced relation and in the proper attitude relative to the line of contact between a workpiece and a grinding wheel during the grinding operation performed on each of a series of similar workpieces.

United States Patent Joyce [54] COOLANT NOZZLE [72] Inventor:

[73] Assignee: The Warner & Swasey Company,

Cleveland, Ohio [22] Filed: Sept. 21, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 74,055

Glover C. Joyce, Worcester, Mass.

[52] US. Cl ..5l/356, 51/267 [51] Int. Cl. ..B24b 55/02 [58] Field of Search ..5l/356, 267, 322, 103 R [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,730,845 l/l956 Ernst .51/267 X 3,548,549 7/1968 Dunn ..5 H267 X 51 Oct. 10, 1972 Dey ..51 I267 ux Norton ..5l/267 Primary Examiner-Donald G. Kelly Attorney-Thomas L. Tarolli and Calvin G. Covell [57] ABSTRACT A coolant discharge nozzle for grinding machines fixedly secured to a steadyrest assembly movable into and out of operative engagement with a workpiece being ground, so that the nozzle outlet orifice is maintained in the proper spaced relation and in the proper attitude relative to the line of contact between a workpiece and a grinding wheel during the grinding operation performed on each of a series of similar workpieces.

4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTEDUEI 10 I972 INVENTOR ATTORNEY GLOVE/3 G JOYCE COOLANT NOZZLE It has been common practice to direct coolant fluid to the site of a grinding operation on a grinding machine by means of a nozzle assembly mounted on the grinding wheel guard above the line of contact between the grinding wheel and the workpiece, either on a relatively fixed upper portion of the wheel guard or upon an adjustable hood portion of the wheel guard adjusted periodically as the grinding wheel is worn in use. In either case, the progressive reduction in diameter resulting from wheel wear and wheel truing operations changes the space relation between the support for the coolant discharge nozzle and the surface of the grinding wheel. Consequently, the position of the coolant discharge nozzle must be adjusted from time to time to maintain a properly directed fiow of coolant to the site of the grinding operation.

The present invention providing a coolant discharge nozzle assembly mounted fixedly upon a steadyrest assembly movable into and out of operative engagement with each workpiece ground assures proper initial positioning and alignment of the coolant nozzle discharge orifice thereafter maintained throughout a repetitive sequence of grinding operations on a series of identical workpiece sections, without requiring periodic readjustment as the grinding wheel is reduced in diameter.

Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference numerals refer to like or corresponding parts,

FIG. 1 is a partial side elevation, partly broken away, of the preferred embodiment of the instant invention,

FIG. 2 is a top plan view, partially broken away, of an alternative embodiment of the outlet orifice of the coolant nozzle assembly, and

FIG. 3 is a vertical section, taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 1 showing a typical cross section view through the coolant nozzle assembly.

An object of this invention is the provision of a coolant discharge nozzle assembly for precision grinding machine so mounted as to be maintained continuously in the proper operative relation to the line of contact between a grinding wheel and a workpiece throughout a series of grinding operations.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a coolant discharge nozzle for a precision grinding machine so supported in relation to the site of a grinding operation that it need not be adjusted to compensate for the progressive reduction in the size of a grinding wheel as it wears in use.

A further object of this invention is the provision of a steadyrest supported coolant discharge nozzle assembly for use on a precision grinding machine to direct an auxiliary supply of coolant fluid to predetermined portions of the line of contact between a grinding wheel and a workpiece at which a grinding operation takes place.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a typical steadyrest assembly generally designated by reference numeral includes a housing 11 slidably or otherwise mounted upon a grinding machine, not shown, for movement into and out of engagement with a workpiece 42 rotated in the grinding machine in engagement with a grinding wheel 44. The workpiece 42 is engaged on the side remote from the grinding wheel 44 by an upper steadyrest shoe l2 and on its lower side by a lower steadyrest shoe l3, and also by a workpiece sensing element operative to sense thepresence of a workpiece in the grinding machine, all pivotally or otherwise supported upon the steadyrest housing .11. The housing 11 also supports an in-process gage assembly 15 provided with a gage probe 16 disposed adjacent to the upper surface of the workpiece 42.

The coolant discharge nozzle assembly generally designated by reference numeral 20 includes asuitable nozzle mounting bracket 21 fixedly secured to the steadyrest housing 11 by suitable attachment means such as attachment bolts or otherwise, an elongated lower wall portion 22, an elongated upper and side wall portion 23, a rear end wall 24 with an opening therethrough to receive and secure the end of a coolant conduit 25 in turn connected to-any suitable source of coolant fluid. The nozzle assembly 20 is so supported its discharge orifice 26 directs a supply of coolant fluid delivered to the .nozzle assembly into the area immediately adjacent the line of contact between the workpiece 42 and the grinding wheel 44.

In an alternative embodiment the nozzle assembly 20 may be modified as indicated in FIG. 2 to provide streams of coolant fluid at predetermined portions of the line of contact between the workpiece 42 and the grinding wheel 44.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the respective wall portions 22 and 23, which may be connected together by welded joints as indicated in FIG. 3, may enclose a spacedpair of elongated filler blocks 31 and deflector block 32 shaped and arranged as shown in FIG. 2 so as to provide a pair of angularly offset discharge-orifices 34 particularly useful as a means of providing an adequate flow of coolant fluid for grinding workpieces in which a cylindrical portion is bounded on both ends by two radially extending side surfaces which tend to be burned whenground by the radial side faces of a grinding wheel 44.

Both the size and thedisposition of the deflected orifices 34 are dictated by the size and configuration of the workpiece being ground as well as the amount of coolant fluid required at a given surface to prevent burning. For example, a workpiece with a single radial surface adjoining one end of a cylindrical section to be ground might be protected against burning by a single deflected orifice 34 or a plurality of such surfaces all directed toward one end of the workpiece section to be ground.

Accordingly, the steadyrest support coolant discharge nozzle assembly shown'in FIG. 1 may be used as the sole source of a coolant fluid delivered to the site of a grinding operation through a relatively large discharge orifice 26. Alternatively, the nozzle assembly may be modified as shown in FIG. 2 to provide multidirectional discharge orifices 34 effective to direct controlled quantities of coolant fluid to critical workpiece surface areas.

It will be apparent that the nozzle assembly of FIG. 1 modified as suggested in FIG. 2 may function as an auxiliary source of coolant fluid to supplement a separate primary source comprising a nozzle mounted upon the grinding wheel guard or otherwise on a grinding machine. It will be equally apparent that a multidirectional array of discharge orifices 34 such as those illustrated in FIG. 2 may be combined with a primary discharge orifice 26 in a single nozzle assembly 20 fixedly secured to a steadyrest assembly 10.

It is to be understood the above description is exemplary and that the present invention contemplates other nozzle assembly configurations within the scope of the claims appended hereto. Furthermore, the steadyrest mounted nozzle assembly disclosed herein is suitable for use with any steadyrest assembly including a housing or supporting member to which it may be fixedly secured in proper operative relation to the site of a grinding operation for which the steadyrest assembly is used.

What is claimed is:

l. A coolant discharge nozzle assembly for use in combination with a steadyrest assembly for a cylindrical grinding machine wherein the steadyrest assembly has a steadyrest shoe movable into and out of operative supporting engagement with a workpiece supported between the steadyrest shoe and a rotatable grinding wheel comprising:

an elongated hollow nozzle having an inlet opening at one end thereof and a discharge orifice at the other end thereof disposed adjacent to and spaced from a workpiece engaged by the given steadyrest assembly and in turn engaged by a grinding wheel and maintained in alignment with and to direct coolant to, a site of grinding contact between the surfaces of the workpiece and the grinding wheel without the need for periodic readjustment regardless of the change in diameter of the grinding wheel during repetitive grinding operations,

a supporting means fixedly secured to said nozzle assembly and to thegiven steadyrest assembly, and

a hollow elongated fluid conduit connected at one end thereof to the inlet opening of said nozzle and at the other end thereof to a source of coolant fluid.

2. A nozzle assembly as described in claim 1 wherein,

said discharge orifice comprises a plurality of multidirectional coolant fluid passages arranged to direct predetermined quantities of coolant fluid in predetermined different directions to impinge on selected areas of an adjacent workpiece being ground.

3. A nozzle assembly as described in claim 1 wherein,

said discharge orifice includes a pair of angularly offset oppositely disposed channels arranged to direct predetermined quantities of coolant fluid against spaced apart predetermined portions of an adjacent workpiece being ground.

4. A nozzle assembly as described in Claim 1 wherein,

said orifice includes a centrally located triangular fluid deflective block with opposite angularly disposed side surfaces, and

first and second spaced filler blocks each with an angular side surface spaced from one angular side surface of said fluid deflector block to form a fluid channel therebetween. 

1. A coolant discharge nozzle assembly for use in combination with a steadyrest assembly for a cylindrical grinding machine wherein the steadyrest assembly has a steadyrest shoe movable into and out of operative supporting engagement with a workpiece supported between the steadyrest shoe and a rotatable grinding wheel comprising: an elongated hollow nozzle having an inlet opening at one end thereof and a discharge orifice at the other end thereof disposed adjacent to and spaced from a workpiece engaged by the given steadyrest assembly and in turn engaged by a grinding wheel and maintained in alignment with and to direct coolant to, a site of grinding contact between the surfaces of the workpiece and the grinding wheel without the need for periodic readjustment regardless of the change in diameter of the grinding wheel during repetitive grinding operations, a supporting means fixedly secured to said nozzle assembly and to the given steadyrest assembly, and a hollow elongated fluid conduit connected at one end thereof to the inlet opening of said nozzle and at the other end thereof to a source of coolant fluid.
 2. A nozzle assembly as described in claim 1 wherein, said discharge orifice comprises a plurality of multi-directional coolant fluid passages arranged to direct predetermined quantities of coolant fluid in predetermined different directions to impinge on selected areas of an adjacent workpiece being ground.
 3. A nozzle assembly as described in claim 1 wherein, said discharge orifice includes a pair of angularly offset oppositely disposed channels arranged to direct predetermined quantities of coolant fluid against spaced apart predetermined portions of an adjacent workpiece being ground.
 4. A nozzle assembly as described in Claim 1 wherein, said orifice includes a centrally located triangular fluid deflective block with opposite angularly disposed side surfaces, and first and second spaced filler blocks each with an angular side surface spaced from one angular side surface of said fluid deflector block to form a fluid channel therebetween. 